Without waiting for her to respond, I take a few steps to the right toward the Lieutenant wing, but her voice stops me from going any further.
“Right,” she says, clearly not believing me. “Well, I hope you find what you’re looking for. If you see my dad, tell him I’ve been looking for him. And don’t worry. I’ll keep the rest of this little meeting a secret. For now, anyway.”
She’s a stranger, so I’m not entirely sure why she’d keep whatever she thinks she knows a secret, but there’s not much I can do right now. I need to get this keycard back to its rightfulowner, whoever it is. Plus, it’s not as if she knows anything about me. There are plenty of Guild members with similar features to my own. Even if she shares where she found me, there’s no way it could lead back to me.
Before she gets too far away, she looks over her shoulder and winks. “Nice running into you, Ezekiel.”
And just like that, my stomach sinks. But how did she—
Fuck.My nametag.
I don’t respond, just shoot her a weird sort of wave and head toward the on-duty lieutenant’s office with my stomach practically dragging on the floor.
Almost there. Then I can get the fuck out of here.
The office is empty, so I hurry inside to place the card back where I found it when footsteps approach from the hall. Shit! There’s no time to think, only act. I drop the card to the floor and kick it so that it skitters and lands near the chair. Just as someone else enters the room, I do my best to appear engrossed in the same awards I’d looked at earlier.
“Zeke. Good to see you, though I’m not exactly surprised,” Azrael says as he walks further into his office.
My blood turns to stone, but I keep my face neutral.He can’t know. Not unless leaving his card unattended was just a test. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“You’re not?”
“No. Look, I know you’re pissed at me for keeping you on desk duty, and honestly, I’m surprised it took you so long to come bitch me out for it. But just know that it wasn’t my decision and I’m still fighting them on it. Fuck, in my eyes, you and the other students who fought so valiantly during that attack deserve medals, not consequences.”
His words surprise me. It may not have been the real reason I’m standing here, but I can’t lie and say I wasn’t curious why he would have benched me. I know Azrael. How could I havethought any differently? “Thank you. I appreciate you sticking up for me.”
“You’re an asset to the Guild, Ezekiel, and I want you back in the field. Listen, why don’t you head home a little early? I’ll finish up logging your assigned report and maybe by your next shift, I’ll have convinced my superiors to let you off desk duty. Sound good?”
I nod. “If you see Lieutenant Atlas, mind letting him know his daughter was looking for him? I ran into her in the hallway on my way to your office.”
“Will do. Now get out of here and enjoy my gift of freedom.”
With a smile, I head back to my station to grab my things and head out. Thoughts fly through my mind like a hurricane, pulling me in so many directions that it’s hard to focus. I have to tell Hayliel what I found in the file room, and more than that, I have to figure out what it all truly means. What is their goal here?
But there’s another thought that won’t leave me. I’ve been second-guessing Azrael and his intentions since the attack, wondering why he didn’t answer my call. Why he chained me to the desk and kept things from me as if he was the bad guy. I should have given him more credit. I should have really, truly, given it some thought, and maybe I’d have seen what was so clearly in front of me. He’s the exact opposite of devious and manipulating, and how do I thank him? By setting him up.
If it was his keycard I used to sneak into the file room, and if something goes sideways, it’ll be him who takes the fall for it.
11
The late afternoon sun shines down on me where I sit on the dock. I want to free my wings and feel the heat of it warm my feathers. They’ve been itching more than usual, and it’s not enough that I’ve started taking them out in my room just to flex them. Out here, though, in the open, I’ll keep them tucked beneath my skin. Today hasn’t been entirely awful, and I’d really like to keep it that way.
It’s a rare moment where I’m alone with my thoughts. Raphael and Theo are supposed to meet up with me soon. Then we’ll grab supper and spend the rest of the evening tucked away somewhere.Maybe where clothes are optional?
I ignore the voice in my head, even if the bitch is right. As much as I might want a replay of what happened at the park, if I think about it now, I’ll only stress. I’ve got enough to worry about already.
The flap of wings comes moments before the dock shifts beneath me. Right away, I know it’s not my two companions, and when the scent of jasmine and leather reaches me on the breeze, I know who it is. Zeke.
Still, I don’t bother turning. We’ve had this weird sort of truce since the attack, and as much as I’m trying not to get my hopes up, I can’t stop the pounding of my heart at the knowledge that he’s sought me out.
“You’re alone.” He states it as fact instead of a question.
Has it really been that long since he and I have been alone? I think back, wondering when we might have had a moment together with just the two of us. The incident with my wing sensor, maybe? Heat builds in my low belly as I recall the state he’d been in when I found him. He was shirtless and playful then, similar to how he’d been that first night when we painted each other and spent the night in his room. Oh, how things have changed.
“I’m alone,” I reply, parroting his words.
He takes a seat beside me on the dock but doesn’t let his feet dangle in the water like mine are. I look at him for the first time in what feels like days. He’s wearing his Guild uniform, his hair disheveled, likely a result of his flight back to campus. I wish I were that comfortable in my own skin to fly about wherever and whenever I want.
